Hundreds of Lakewood students will travel to Trenton on Wednesday to urge education officials to get behind a $10 million school district bailout, money to rehire more than 100 teachers and staff who were laid off last week.

This protest follows a walkout at Lakewood High School on Friday in which hundreds of students left their last classes and rallied at the football stadium in opposition to severe cuts. See the video at the top of this story for more on the walkout.

Lakewood Superintendent Laura Winters said around 360 students from the high school and middle school will be bused to Trenton, where they will hold a rally outside the offices of the Department of Education.

"The students are going to ask the department to save our teachers," Winters said.

The unusual field trip comes as Lakewood's school district finds itself in a nearly $15 million budget hole ahead of the 2017-2018 school year. Because of that shortfall, the district laid off more than 100 teachers and staff members. If those cuts hold, the average class size would be about 50 students.

Michael Inzelbuch, a special-education lawyer and former attorney for the Lakewood Board of Education, is paying for 10 buses to take students to the state capital. He said the impoverished school district isn't spending any money for the trip.

"Lakewood should not have to lose teachers," said Inzelbuch, who graduated from Lakewood High School in 1983. "We don't want loans, we want money."

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Lakewood students have walked out of class in protest of potential program cuts and massive teacher layoffs.
Alex Gecan

While Winters has formally asked for the $10 million loan from the state — a request students will presumably reinforce on Wednesday — the state has not said if it will give Lakewood schools any additional support.

DOE Spokesman David Saenz said Monday that the department is reviewing the request, but declined further comment.

Without additional funds, Lakewood officials say they will also be forced to cut all after-school activities, including athletic programs and band.

Lakewood's school district, unique in the state, is home to about 6,000 public school students and an additional 30,000 students who attend private schools — mostly religious schools.

Lakewood gets state funding based on its public school enrollment of 6,000 students, even though it is required to pay the transportation and special education costs for the nonpublic population.

This school year, the district paid $15 million for busing private school students and $23 million to send students to schools that provide special education.

State Sen. Robert Singer, R-Ocean, said he's working with state lawmakers to create a "carve out" for Lakewood schools aimed at preventing what has become an annual budget crisis. Discussions on this are ongoing and have yet to produce a specific proposal.

Last year, Lakewood schools faced possible cuts of $11 million and layoffs of 68 teachers. The state came through with nearly $6 million in loans. This year the shortfall widened to nearly $15 million. Singer's idea is to secure enough additional funding for Lakewood that annual loans and cuts won't be necessary.

The senator is expected to meet with students and speak before the buses head to Trenton.